Safari Firm Interested In N.Z. Deer

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30092, 28 March 1963, Page 8

Safari Firm Interested In N.Z. Deer

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

NEW YORK, March 26. One of Eut Africa’s top white hunters left here today for New Zealand to Investigate prospects of opening up organised safaris for overseas hunters after the country’s plentiful deer. The white hunter is an Australian, 38-year-old Peter Whitehead, general manager of Kenya's biggert safari firm, who is now on a world tour. He is due to arrive in Auckk nd on a 10-day visit on April 7 to “investigate prospects for opening up an organised tourist hunting business of a modified East African style." N.Z. Paying Bounties Mr Whitehead said “We’ve heard that the New Zealand Government is paying bounties, and has a problem with game animals like deer. “We’d like to see if there is not some way of effectively turning it into a tourist industry of ultimate benefit to the country as a whole and ourselves as individuals.” He said his firm oould bring in overseas hunters who were “more easily made aware of facilities through our contacts, which are the biggest in the world.”

The tourist hunting industry in East Africa brought nearly £500.000 yearly into Kenya ait no expense to the Government, he said. Asked what stimulated his interest in New Zealand, Mr Whitehead said his firm had first-hand accounts of the nation’s problems with deer, and its hunting potential, and was seeking to expand its interests outside Africa. “This will be my first visit, and I would like to have a good look round before taking back a recommendation,” he said. Mr Whitehead was a stockman in New South Wales and Queensland before the war, served in an R.A.A.F. bomber squadron during the war, then became a game warden in Nigeria. He hunted elephants in Central Africa and later moved to East Africa.

Illegal Entry. Cases of mass, illegal entry by South Koreans into Japan have been increasing again. The Maritime Safety Board attributes the increase to the expected restoration of diplomatic ties between Japan and South Korea.—Tokyo.